as you move forward, the deficits are going to go even higher. >> oh, yeah. even a maximum deal, i think, all of us would agree is not going to happen. simpson-bowles is not going to go through. even that would not be commensurate with the question. and i think what exacerbates this is every day that passes, the president works on one kind of clock. and everybody else invested in the system works on a different one. the president's clock is now just ticking toward history. everybody else is ticking toward the next election. both in '14 and in '16. and the human reality of politics is that as he starts to think more long term, everybody else is going to be imprisoned, if you will, or trapped, constrained by having to go back and getting re-elected. >> let me stop you for one second. you're a historian. i am a politician by trade when it comes to this stuff. and i can tell you the clock is actually, in my opinion, the clock is actually ticking fastest for the president. because at some point, the republicans are going to pick themselves up off the ground, and t